His cardinalate motto, Cor ad cor loquitur (Heart speaks to heart) discloses his unrelenting search for the truth, as detailed in the inscription on a joint memorial stone that commemorates him and his lifelong friend, Ambrose St John, Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem (Out of shadows and phantasms into the truth). This singular man, a distinguished British citizen, an excellent writer, a forward-looking educator, and, most of all, a dedicated and zealous pastor, is none other than the Blessed John Henry Newman, who was beatified on Sunday, September 19, in Birmingham.
Newman represents the searching spirit of postmodern man and woman, the eagerness to know the truth and abide by it. In the interesting interview that the Holy Father held with the journalists during the flight to the United Kingdom, he purposely stressed the point that Newman’s continuous seeking of the truth led him to his inner authentic freedom. “He was a man whose whole life was a journey, a journey in which he allowed himself to be transformed by truth in a search marked by great sincerity and great openness, so as to know better and to find and accept the path that leads to true life.” For Newman, the incessant quest for the truth definitely demanded the great help of humility, that august virtue which not only recognizes but also incorporates change as its driving force. As he wrote: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Thus, in Blessed Newman’s view, to be constantly changed by the truth is to live life and life in abundance! This is solely possible because truth has become personal. And Newman’s life is full of ample evidence of what it means to nurture and pay the price of a personal faith, live it, suffer for it and continually find it through a lifelong journey of renewal and conversion.
In Newman’s view, education, worth of its name, should essentially resist any reductive or utilitarian thrust, while, on the contrary, it should willingly espouse an integral approach which includes intellectual training, moral discipline and religious commitment. At the core of such a broad understanding of education, the role of the well-prepared laity becomes crucial. In The Present Position of Catholics in England, Newman explains his innovative vision. “I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it.”
His lively encounter with the intellectual, spiritual and social challenges of his times made him a down-to-earth person both as a prolific writer as well as a dedicated priest. As Pope Benedict XVI rightly pointed out in his homily at the Beatification Mass celebrated at Cofton Park in Rednal, Birmingham, “the definite service to which Blessed John Henry was called involved applying his keen intellect and his prolific pen to many of the most pressing ‘subjects of the day’. His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilised society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance for Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world.” Can we, as priests, offer such an outstanding contribution to the world of culture by proffering our views on the topical matters of today’s postmodern society, as Blessed Newman did?
Finally, Blessed John Henry Newman’s priestly holy life reveals that the priest is, in fact, the man of communion. In his book Meditations and Devotions, Cardinal Newman confessed: “I have my mission. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place … if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling”. Newman’s gentle scholarship, profound human wisdom and deep love for the Lord and his contemporaries made him understand that the permanent fruitfulness of his priesthood vocation heavily relied on his belief that the Holy Spirit, through his priestly being and service, “fills all in all” (Eph 1, 23). 15 centuries before, the great Church Father, Saint John Chrysostom, in his treatise On the Priesthood, keenly expressed the same view when he wrote: “For the priestly office is indeed discharged on earth, but it ranks among heavenly ordinances; and very naturally so: for neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself, instituted this vocation, and persuaded men while still abiding in the flesh to represent the ministry of angels” (3.4).
In the book of Hosea, the Lord’s faithful heart invites the unfaithful heart of the People of Israel to come out into the wilderness in order to be healed and strengthened in its faithful adherence to God. “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her” (Hosea 2, 14). The wilderness provided Blessed John Henry Newman with the necessary insights in the matters of God and men. May our priestly solitude be the impetus through which we can live out our inbuilt sacerdotal attitude for dialogue with everyone.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann